Just before tomorrowâ€™s consistoryÂ in Rome where Pope Francis will come together with the Cardinals of the Catholic Church in order to elevate hisÂ new Cardinals, it seems that the brewing conflict which started in February 2014 with Cardinal Walter Kasperâ€™s speech at the earlier Consistory is now coming to a head. As Steve Skojec has recently reminded us, it was at that time that 85% of the cardinalsÂ who then spoke up had rejected the Â“Kasper prosposalÂ” which finally wants to admit Â“remarriedÂ” divorcees to Holy Communion.In this context, the Four Cardinals Letter written against the papal document Amoris Laetitia is of...

At 8 pm, the Swiss Guards closed the gates of the Pope's summer palace in Castel Gandolfo. Then they left their posts. So they demonstrated on 28 February 2013 that Benedict XVI was now Supreme Pontiff emeritus, a Pope retired. Benedict retired to a convent in the Vatican and vowed to continue to live like a monk and leave the field to the successor. Benedict however cracks open the doors again this Friday...

Islam is a deadly totalitarian political system masquerading as a religion. Few in the West know this and/or are willing to admit it. Being honest about this doesn't mean hating Muslims. It means understanding the religion and why it is dangerous to the rights and freedoms and way of life in the West, and why that danger probably isn't going to go away. The last Pope seems to have understood this. At Asia Times, Spengler writes:

Former Pope Benedict says in his memoirs that no-one pressured him to resign but alleges that a "gay lobby" in the Vatican had tried to influence decisions, a leading Italian newspaper reported on Friday. The book, called "The Last Conversations", is the first time in history that a former pope judges his own pontificate after it is over. It is due to be published on Sept. 9... In the book, Benedict says that he came to know of the presence of a "gay lobby" made up of four or five people who were seeking to influence Vatican decisions. The article...

Backing from retired pope at event to mark his 65th year as a priest may help Francis gain favour among church conservativesBenedict XVI has endorsed Pope Francis’s ministry in an unprecedented Vatican ceremony featuring a reigning pontiff honouring a retired one on the 65th anniversary of his ordination as a priest. The ceremony in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace served in part to show continuity from Benedict to Francis amid continued nostalgia from some conservatives for the former’s tradition-minded papacy. Francis had invited the entire Vatican Curia, or bureaucracy, to celebrate Benedict’s anniversary, and prelates turned out in...

<p>On board the Papal plane en route to the Greek island of Lesbos where he is visiting refugees, Pope Francis remembered his predecessor in his prayers saying, "I would like to remind you that today is the 89th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI. Pray for him"</p>

It’s a somewhat obscure apocalyptic novel, much overlooked since its publication in 1907, and yet it comes with a recommendation that just about any best-selling author would covet: the spiritual leader of the whole world says it’s a good read. And not just the current pope, the previous one too.Pope Francis raised eyebrows in 2013 and again in 2015 when he recommended Robert Hugh Benson’s Lord of the World to the faithful as a book that depicts a “globalization of hegemonic uniformity.” Similarly, then-Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, referred to the Universalism depicted in Lord of the...

On March 16, speaking publicly on a rare occasion, Pope Benedict XVI gave an interview to Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference, in which he spoke of a “two-sided deep crisis” the Church is facing in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The report has already hit Germany courtesy of Vaticanist Guiseppe Nardi, of the German Catholic news website Katholisches.info.

March 16, 2016 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- On March 16, speaking publicly on a rare occasion, Pope Benedict XVI gave an interview to Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference, in which he spoke of a â€śtwo-sided deep crisisâ€ť the Church is facing in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The report has already hit Germany courtesy of Vaticanist Guiseppe Nardi, of the German Catholic news website Katholisches.info. Pope Benedict reminds us of the formerly indispensable Catholic conviction of the possibility of the loss of eternal salvation, or that people go to hell: The missionaries of the 16th...

ROME, March 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) - In a recent interview, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), acknowledged that he must sometimes correct Pope Francis on matters of dogma, noting that the pope is not a "professional theologian." In a March 1 interview with the German newspaper Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger, Cardinal Muller was asked about his relationship with the pope and whether he is his strongest opponent. Muller first explains that he had been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. Concerning Benedict, he adds: "With him, I was closely connected due to the fact...

From the article: But whatâ€™s most odd is that the two popes are these two popes, and that the one who spent a third of a century erecting a Catholic edifice of firm doctrine and strict prohibition now must look on at close range as the other cheerfully dismantles it in the service of a more open, flexible Church.

Since at least the fifth century, Christians had identified a spot in Jerusalem as the Pool of Siloam and the site of the miracle. But it was not until a decade ago that archaeologists found what they are certain is the ancient pool of Siloam. Like so many such finds, it was almost by accident. During construction work to repair a water pipe near the Temple Mount, Israeli archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron found "two ancient stone steps." According to Biblical Archaeology Review, "Further excavation revealed that they were part of a monumental pool from the Second Temple period,...

Kai Diekmann, Editor-in-chief of Bild Zeitung, talks about his visit to Benedict XVI: “Bright-eyed, smiley, no signs of wearinessA small reception hall, a wooden staircase that leads up to the first floor. The sitting room is welcoming and bright, there is a white leather sofa and a simple seat. A book case that reaches the ceiling, a flat-screen TV with a DVD player and some religious icons on the walls. A coffee table and a piano with a black-and-white photo of his brother Georg. The story Kai Diekmann, Editor-in-chief of Bild Zeitung, wishes to share with his readers is very...

Pope Benedict spoke honestly about Islam. Now it has come to light that he was being undermined by a shadowy cabal that wanted to install Cardinal Bergoglio — the present Pope Francis — as Pope and “modernize” the Catholic Church. One thing they’ve certainly succeeded in doing is ending all resistance to the global jihad that has victimized hundreds of thousands of Christians. The Church leadership is betraying its own people...

One thing that that has puzzled a lot of people since the selection of Pope Francis two years ago is how a left-leaning Pope could succeed two very serious conservative PopesÂ—John Paul II and Benedict XVIÂ—who you would have thought had stacked the ranks of the Cardinals with clergy that would perpetuate their theological and philosophical outlook. Was Benedict hounded out of office by some kind of internal Vatican scandal perhaps? Was there some ecclesiastical version of a coup?Thereâ€™s no evidence that Iâ€™m aware ofÂ—until now. Three days ago the National Catholic Register ran a very curious article about...

ST. PAUL — Orthodox Rabbi Yehuda Levin of Brooklyn, a longtime pro-life, pro-family activist, in a September 9 telephone interview with The Wanderer said he is “calling upon the eminent Pope Benedict…to weigh in before the Synod” against same-sex marriage and civil unions, as well as “on all the negative things that are going on.” Rabbi Levin offered his view that Benedict has “got to be a fighter for this,” given “the volume of the negative stuff” and because “God and His people are under attack in a vicious way,” particularly in their efforts to defend marriage. He said he...

More than 13,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the Milwaukee Art Museum not to display a newly acquired portrait of retired Pope Benedict XVI fashioned from 17,000 colorful condoms. The petition was circulated by CitizenGo.org, a conservative Christian advocacy site based in Madrid. "The Milwaukee Art Museum's decision to display this offensive piece of art exposes a double-standard when it comes to offending religious groups," Caroline Craddock, the Boston-based U.S. campaigns director for CitizenGO said in a news release. "They would never dare insult Mohammad or other religious leaders the way they demean followers of Christ." The...

Once again, this time by the New York Times, it has been proven that the only group that it is politically correct to bash or offend is Christians. They turn the other cheek and forgive those who trespass, rather than behead and bomb, or storm newspaper offices to murder and maim. That much was admitted by New York Times editor for standards Phil Corbett in defending the newspaper’s decision to publish Monday a picture of Pope Benedict XVI fashioned out of condoms, after being among those that refused to publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Mohammed that prompted a...

In Interview with La Nacion's Elisabetta Pique, Prefect of the Pontifical Household Says Benedict XVI "Impressed" By SuccessorArchbishop Georg Gänswein says Pope Benedict “follows his successor with great attention and sympathy.” The prefect of the Pontifical Household gave an interview to La Nacion's Elisabetta Piqué, which was published on March 21st. The German prelate, who serves as personal secretary to both Pontiffs, said that in a number of ways he and Benedict have been “impressed” by Pope Francis, both as a human being and as a spiritual leader. While acknowledging that the first Jesuit Pope to hail from the Americas...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A donation to the Vatican by a U.S. businessman enabled Pope Benedict XVI to peruse a few pages of the oldest existing copy of the Gospel of St. Luke and one of the oldest copies of the Gospel of St. John. The Catholic businessman, Frank J. Hanna III, and his family were present in the pope's library Jan. 22 when Pope Benedict got his first look at pages from the famous Bodmer Papyrus XIV-XV. Hanna is the Atlanta-based chief executive officer of HBR Capital Ltd., an investment management company, and co-chairman of President George W. Bush's...

How to Save the World, Godâ€™s Way â€“ A Reflection on a Liturgical Teaching of Pope Benedict By: Msgr. Charles Pope Whenever I write on liturgy, I usually get a lot of comments. Many people obviously care deeply about it.Yet I also get comments that decry myÂ â€śpreoccupationâ€ť with liturgy,Â saying that it is of minor importance compared to the issues of poverty,Â abortion, etc. Some on the leftÂ will say, â€śWho cares if the Pope washes certain feet or doesnâ€™t wear a fanon! Get out there and take care of the poor and show compassion. Frankly, your elaborate and expensive liturgies are...

In today's edition of the American Thinker, Peter Muhearn raises an interesting point in the current Pope-Islam controversy: Did Pope Benedict give Muslims cause for offense by quoting the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus (born 1350, died 1425)? Manuel once scored debating points on a Persian scholar by demanding ”[s]how me just what Mohammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” . . . Manuel certainly knew what he was talking about. He spent some time as a hostage in...

Questions that need to be asked about Islam were asked by Pope Benedict nearly ten years ago.On a plane ride between Sri Lanka and the Philippines this week, Pope Francis made headlines while talking with reporters about the moral limits to free expression. The issue came up, of course, in the wake of the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in France, which Pope Francis has strongly condemned. The attacks in Paris — including one at a kosher deli — along with the slaughter that Boko Haram inflicts in Nigeria, the terrorist attack in the Lindt café in Sydney...

Archbishop Georg Gänswein says retired pope is not working behind-the-scenes with conservativesROME — A close aide to emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has denied the former pontiff is playing any behind-the-scenes role over the issue of Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, calling such reports a “pure invention.” The aide also dismissed suggestions that Benedict is a sort of “anti-pope” for conservatives upset with Francis, calling it “stupid and irresponsible,” and labeling such rumors a form of “theological arson.” Archbishop Georg Gänswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary of emeritus pope Benedict XVI, made the comments in an...

Last Friday, Rev. Robert Jeffress, the Dallas pastor who introduced Gov. Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, spoke derisively about the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney, making the case that “Mormonism is a cult.” Two days later, he chided Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as “false religions.” Last year, Rev. Jeffress said the Roman Catholic Church was the outgrowth of a “corruption” called the “Babylonian mystery.” He continued, “Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like pagan religion. Isn’t that the genius of Satan?” Catholic League president Bill...

ROMA, January 19, 2006 â€“ The first words of Benedict XVIâ€™s first encyclical letter, almost the motto of his papacy, are â€śDeus Caritas Est,â€ť God is love. But not everyone in the upper levels of the Church is full of love and solidarity for this new pope. Resistance to his guidance is tenacious and widespread, and in some places it is on the rise. And almost all the resistance shields itself behind the protection of anonymity. The only open and avowed resistance is that of the Neocatechumenal Way, which has opposed a papal directive issued last December, which struck at...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Why the Next Pope Needs to Be Italian By ROBERTO PAZZI Published: January 11, 2004 FERRARA, Italy--For years Vatican specialists in Italy have, in delineating the uncertain features of John Paul II's successor, been fueled by a silent question: will the new pope be Italian? Why, one might ask, should Italy hope for an Italian pope, given the almost universal praise for the pontificate of Karol Wojtyla? The origins of this question go back in time and deserve examination. I was watching on that unforgettable Roman evening of Oct. 16, 1978, when, on the state television network, RAI,...

Picture the Pope praying in a mosque alongside top Muslim leaders. That’s what happened in Turkey last weekend. Pope Francis was at the Blue Mosque in Instabul on Saturday as part of his three-day visit to the predominantly Muslim country. He also celebrated Mass at the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in the city. The visit to the mosque is significant as the Pope tries to promote peace and unity between Muslims and Christians. He’s the second Pope to worship at the Blue Mosque. The first was his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who was there in 2006 for a...

Conservative Catholics, angry at Pope Francis’s more moderate tone, are bucking the Church’s hierarchy. Almost from the beginning, there have been rumblings of discontent about Pope Francis I. While the world’s media fell in love with him, there were more conservative bishops who felt that Francis’s popular appeal came at the expense of carefully worked-out Church rituals and teachings. They saw Francis as chipping away at established Church teachings on sexuality, kowtowing to the liberal media, and acting aggressively towards conservative church leaders. Criticism of Francis has come to a head with the publication of the final report of the...

On the evening of Sept. 12, 2006, my wife and I were dining in Cracow with Polish friends when an agitated Italian Vaticanista (pardon the redundancy in adjectives) called, demanding to know what I thought of “Zees crazee speech of zee pope about zee Muslims.” That was my first hint that the herd of independent minds in the world press was about to go ballistic on the subject of Benedict XVI’s Regensburg Lecture: a “gaffe”-bone on which the media continued to gnaw until the end of Benedict’s pontificate. Eight years later, the Regensburg Lecture looks a lot different. Indeed, those...

I begin with a piece, spotted by Fr Tim Finigan and reported in his indispensable blog The Hermeneutic of Continuity, which had been published in Sandro Magister’s blog—not his English one, Chiesa, but his Italian language blog for L’Espresso, Settimo Cielo.A few days ago, Magister told the story of a parish priest in the Italian diocese of Novara, Fr Tarcisio Vicario, who recently discussed the question of Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried. This is how he explained the Church’s teaching on the matter: “For the Church, which acts in the name of the Son of God, marriage...

President Obama gave House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi rosary beads blessed by Pope Francis during lunch Tuesday at the White House, according to an NBC News reporter. Carrie Dann @CarrieNBCNews Pelosi says she received a rosary blessed by Pope Francis from Obama at lunch today 12:24 PM - 1 Apr 2014 Obama met Pope Francis at the Vatican for the first time last week. Pelosi, a Catholic, has been criticized for her support of abortion — a practice which she has called “sacred ground” — by other Catholics. Last year, a Vatican official in Rome said that the California lawmaker...

Pope Benedict XVI is somewhat a forgotten man these days. The pope emeritus, who shocked the world when he resigned last spring, is usually referenced now only in stories about his successor, Pope Francis, who’s become the darling of the press, especially in the West. But in the cloistered Vatican City, Pope Benedict is still very much revered and respected. I know this because I was privileged enough to be invited to perform in a private concert there Wednesday, January 15th, in honor of Benedict’s brother’s 90th Birthday. The elderly brothers share a passion for their Catholic faith and music....

VATICAN CITY (RNS) When Pope Benedict XVI officially left the Vatican in a helicopter a year ago this week (Feb. 28), becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, many in his conservative fan base were aghast, even angry. He has betrayed us, said those who thought Benedict’s papacy would be the final triumph of old-school Catholicism. He has undermined the papacy itself, they worried. Lightning even struck the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica hours after Benedict departed, surely a bad omen. Rumors that he was suffering from a terminal illness were taken as gospel truth. After all, what...

According to AP, and this was also clarified by the papal spokesman Fr. Lombardi, Pope Benedict XVI “defrocked” almost 400 priests for the crime of sexual abuse of children – in a little more than 2 years.We are talking here about the formal dismissal of clerics from the clerical state, sometimes quickly, through inaccurately, called “defrocking”.Nearly 400 from 2011-2012!John Allen (now leaving NSR) says: Based on information provided in the published volume “Activity of the Holy See,” according to Scicluna, there were 135 priests in 2011 who voluntarily requested dismissal from the clerical state and 125 for whom laicization was...

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a busy first day in Rome on Monday, going from the pope to a “Pussy Riot” protest to dinner at the palazzo of his old friend, Silvio Berlusconi. Putin showed off his religious side during his visit to the Vatican, stopping to cross himself and kiss an icon of the Madonna that he gave Pope Francis. But Moscow’s improving relations with the Vatican only went so far: Putin didn’t invite Francis to visit. … Long-running tensions in Russia between Orthodox faithful and Catholics in Russia prevented Pope Benedict XVI and before him Pope John Paul...

While Pope Francis was preparing "fundamental change" in the Church, there is " growing resistance to his brash nature." And not just in the Vatican, but also among bishops and Catholic groups around the world. There is also a "creeping nostalgia" detectable for Benedict XVI.

The Pope is soft on Islam. "It is true that the Muslim world is not totally mistaken when it reproaches the West of Christian tradition of moral decadence and the manipulation of human life." Encourages Homosexuality. "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the church's pastors wherever it occurs." [SNIP] He is overtly humble and does not embrace his office: "The authority of the pope is not unlimited;" "The cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard....

Today, our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI celebrates his 86th birthday! Please join us in offering up prayers for him, his health and his intentions. In order to honor his birthday, we thought it would be helpful for you to get to know him a bit better. Joseph Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927, Holy Saturday. Baptized the same day, he grew up feeling close to the Church in many ways. His years growing up in Germany were not always easy. He watched the brutalities of the Nazi regime, especially towards to Catholic Church. On more than one occasion,...

Q1: Could you please outline the canonical problems inherent in the fact that now we have two living Popes? –Rhonda Q2: Considering that all priests and bishops must belong to a diocese or religious order, my question would be this: now that Benedict has renounced the Chair of Peter but will be living on the Vatican grounds, as a Bishop, what diocese must he belong to? –Michael A: Now that we Catholics are gradually getting used to the notion that we have a Pope from Argentina named Francis, it’s only natural that many are also starting to wonder what it’s...

NY Times' op-ed contributor and Georgetown professor Paul Elie says the reign of Pope Benedict has been "all bad news, all the time." Really? Vocations, globally, are up 70% since the mid-70s. The number of diocesan priests is at an all-time, and growing faster the number of Catholics, or the global population. The population of Catholics in the world is growing faster than the global population, (1.5% to 1.3% per year) despite being centered in industrialized nations. Conversions to the Catholic church are at an all-time high. The number of students in Catholic high schools has doubled globally since the...

Andrew Sullivan, the author who still harbors serious doubts about the veracity of Sarah Palin's ultimate pregnancy, has determined that outgoing Pope Benedict is gay. In a post titled "Two Popes, One Secretary," Sullivan writes that since Benedict will live in the Vatican with Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, his trusted secretary, he must be gay. "So Benedict's handsome male companion will continue to live with him, while working for the other Pope during the day," Sullivan wrote. "Are we supposed to think that's, well, a normal arrangement?"(continued)

In 1977, a frail, reluctant, 50-year-old college teacher was pressed by his confessor to accept appointment as Bishop of Munich. The job would take him from his beloved students and embroil him in ecclesial and political struggles for which he had little taste. Reluctantly, that good scholar, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, accepted the appointment.Unnoticed by most people, on the coat of arms that he created for his service as bishop Fr. Ratzinger included a puzzling symbol: a bear with a pack on its back.Just four years later, Pope John Paul II summoned Bishop Ratzinger to Rome. There, for a quarter of...

Pope Benedict XVI has experienced dangerous spikes in his blood pressure and has been advised by his doctor to avoid air travel, according to a report by veteran Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti. Tosatti said that the Pope’s medical condition shows “a progressive deterioration of his health and his energy” that explains the Pontiff’s decision to resign. The Italian journalist said that the Pope has suffered from insomnia, has almost completely lost vision in his left eye, and has fallen out of bed several times. Tosatti said that the Pope had been specifically advised by his doctor against making the overseas...

Q1: Can you please explain for us how the papal conclave will work? And are there any major aspects of it that will be different this time, because Pope Benedict is still living? –Leah Q2: Who can, and cannot, be elected Pope? –Joseph The Catholic world is still reeling from Pope Benedict’s astounding announcement last week, but the secular media has already been busily declaiming about the possible reasons for the decision, Pope Benedict’s legacy, possible contenders for the job, etc. etc. ad infinitum. In the process, the amount of misinformation that is being disseminated is staggering!